Famed director drops blunt warning about 'firewall' House seat: 'Accountability dies'

Documentary filmmaker Ken Burns, who has spent decades chronicling the American story, says the country has reached another turning point. He believes one House seat in New Hampshire could decide where it goes.

In a fundraising email sent Tuesday night for Rep. Maggie Goodlander (D-N.H.), Burns told supporters that Democrats’ chances of winning back the House depend on holding her district.

“If Republicans succeed in unseating Maggie from NH-2, retaking the House becomes virtually impossible — and any chance of accountability dies with it,” Burns wrote.

Burns, who lives in Goodlander’s district, called her “my own representative and friend.” He said she is the kind of leader the moment demands.

“I believe, with the same conviction I bring to my work, that our country is at one of those crossroads right now,” he wrote. “Our democratic institutions are under pressure in ways we have seldom witnessed.”

Burns praised Goodlander’s record. He noted that her work exposing Russian corruption got her a lifetime ban from Russia, and that she helped with Trump’s first impeachment. He also highlighted her service as a Navy Reserve intelligence officer on the House Armed Services Committee.

He also mentioned her part in last year’s video in which Democratic lawmakers reminded service members that they must refuse illegal orders. Trump attacked that video as “seditious behavior.”

“She did not flinch when Donald Trump threatened her,” Burns wrote. “She persists in defending the Constitution. She will not back down.”

Burns said Republicans are “pouring everything” into beating Goodlander, who is running for a second term.

“Maggie’s seat is the firewall between them and a House majority — and between them and consequences for their actions,” he wrote.